


You and Me (the lucky ones this time)

by hearteyesquill



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Future, Domestic, Engagement, F/M, Fluff, Future Fic, Jason Blossom is Alive, So fluffy your teeth will rot, so cheesy but in a good way, ten years is a long time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-04
Updated: 2017-06-04
Packaged: 2018-11-09 02:29:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11095017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hearteyesquill/pseuds/hearteyesquill
Summary: "The air was warm and the sounds of cicadas screeched around them, but to Jughead Jones, Sweetwater River was officially his new favorite place, especially with her."Or where Betty and Jughead are still just as much in love as young adults as they were when they were teens.





	You and Me (the lucky ones this time)

**Author's Note:**

> I was listening to American by Lana Del Rey and I got this overwhelming sense of summer vibes (or maybe it's because I have finals this week and desperately need a break) and ended up writing this extremly cliche and fluffy little drabble. enjoy xo! (title is from Lucky Ones by Lana Del Rey)

The air was warm and the sounds of cicadas screeched around them, but to Jughead Jones, Sweetwater River was officially his new favorite place, especially with her.

 

Betty Cooper was sprawled out on the picnic blanket the couple had packed, latest James Patterson novel, sunglasses propped up on her head. Due to the mid-July heat, she wore a light violet dress that barely touched her knees (which was practically sinful for a Cooper girl), her blonde hair up in its usual ponytail. She was absolutely stunning in Jughead’s head.

 

While his girlfriend read, Jughead had begun to take pictures with his new Canon camera, a gift from his new foster family. He had always been interested in photography, but considering the fact that his father could barely afford to rent their trailer, Jughead never bothered to ask for a camera. Now that he had one of his own though, there was no stopping the boy, he shot everything from the kitchen table to candids of his friends at Pop’s. But even with all the pictures he’d taken over the past month, most of the pictures on his camera were on Betty.

 

She hated when Jughead took candids of her, always pointing out the flaws in her profile, while her boyfriend beamed proudly and kissed her on the cheek, still unable to process that he was lucky enough to call Betty Cooper his.

 

It was that day in mid-July, as he sat back down on the blanket next to his girlfriend when he realized how much Jughead really did love her. Betty glanced up from her novel, catching him staring.

 

“What?” She giggles, raising an eyebrow at her boyfriend. Jughead shot her a goofy grin and shook his head.

 

“Nothing, just thinking…” He ran a hand through his thick dark hair, his beanie long abandoned in early June when the temperature started rising up to the nineties. Betty marked her page with a bookmark and sighed, leaning her head again Jughead’s shoulder, which he responded to by laying his arm across her shoulders.

 

“Can you believe that in a little over a month we’ll be starting our _senior year_ in high school?” Betty sighed, looking up at Jughead through her thick lashes. _God, she’s so beautiful,_ Jughead thought.

 

“I know, and only ten years ago we were doing our times tables and had snack time, which we should totally petition Wetherbee to add to the schedule by the way.” The blonde giggled, rolling her eyes.

 

“Wow, those ten years totally flew by, imagine how fast the next ten years will fly by…”

 

“What do you think you’ll be doing in ten years,” Jughead asked, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand. They’d had this conversation before, the ‘ _Where do you see your future going?_ ’ one, and for the past three years, they still managed to include each other in their futures. He just wanted to make sure that hadn’t changed.

 

“Well, in ten years I hope to be a very successful journalist in New York,” Betty started, nudging Jughead in the side as she continued. “And I’ll have this wildly handsome boyfriend who wears suspenders and beanies and takes me to indy coffee shops,”

 

“Wow, that boyfriend of yours sounds like a loser,” He smirked, and Betty leaned up to give him a soft kiss.

 

“Trust me, he is.” She smiled, pulling away only for Jughead to pull her back into a kiss, lasting longer than the first. The two sighed as they parted, Jughead rubbing his thumb along Betty’s cheekbone.

 

“Let’s come back here, to this very spot, in ten years,” He whispers, their lips still centimeters apart.

 

“The last thing I want is to be stuck in Riverdale for the next ten years,” Betty closed her eyes, her warm breath tickling Jughead’s cheek.

 

“You won’t, we’ll come back and visit. Deal?”

 

“Fine Jughead Jones, it’s a deal.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

It would add an extra hour to their travel time, but Jughead insisted they take advantage of the beautiful weather and spend some time relaxing before going back to the stress of New York. Betty reluctantly agreed, only because she had brought a new thriller that she was dying to read, but never found time to.

 

So the two sat along the banks of Sweetwater River, just like they had when they were teenagers, Betty reading her book and Jughead taking pictures of the beauty around him (meaning he was mostly sneaking photos of Betty when she wasn’t looking). He felt a fond wave of nostalgia wash over him as he glanced down at his girlfriend, the weight in his short’s pocket somehow getting heavier.

 

After getting the warning that his SD card was almost full (his third one this month), Jughead took a seat next to his girlfriend, laying his head fondly on her shoulder.

 

“Hey,” He whispered. Betty marked her page and bit her lip, turning her head slightly.

 

“Hey,” She smiled, the couple sharing a chaste kiss before the two rolled over onto their backs, gazing up at the clouds above.

 

“You think the twins really liked their gift? I know how much Cheryl loves to upstage us at these events,” Jughead asked. The main reason the couple had taken the five-hour drive back to Riverdale from New York City was that it was Betty’s niece and nephew, JJ and Beth Blossom’s eighth birthday. The weekend had been filled with awkward Blossom family meals and snide comments about the couple taking up residence in _Brooklyn_ , but it was worth it to see the twins, who Jughead and Betty both loved as if they were their own children.

 

Jughead never really thought about having kids until he met Betty, but he definitely knew he wanted them after bonding with the twins. Beth loved to dress up and thick storybooks that she always had Jughead read to her whenever she saw him, and JJ spent his time outside, inspecting every little plant and bug in the massive Blossom backyard. Jughead remembered how excited JJ had been when he let him use his old Canon to take pictures of the ladybugs and daisies the two had found in the backwoods of Thornhill. Spending time with JJ and Beth made Jughead long for a little Betty and Jughead toddling around, probably going off on secret sleuthing missions just like their parents had when they were younger.

 

“Cheryl may have us beat with the number of gifts, but I saw the look on JJ’s face when he opened up his own junior adventure’s camera and did you notice how big Beth’s smile was when she saw that we gave her that personalized princess storybook? Trust me, we’re definitely their favorite aunt and uncle,” Betty smiled, lacing her fingers with her boyfriend’s.

 

They’d been together for about thirteen years now, since that fateful October afternoon when Jughead finally got the nerves to kiss the girl he’d been crushing on since he was ten. Sure, they’d had their ups and downs, even spit up once or twice, but those estrangements never lasted more than a few weeks until the two realized how much they really needed each other. Back in high school, Jughead had been so worried that as soon as they graduated that Betty would move on to bigger and better things, leaving him behind; now, Jughead couldn’t imagine a life without the giggly blonde. He reached into his shorts pocket and smoothed his finger over the velvet box that seemed to weigh a ton, but in reality was practically lighter than a feather.

 

“Remember ten years ago? When we came here before senior year started?” He asked her, feeling a lump in his throat form. Betty didn’t notice as realization dawned on her.

 

“Oh yeah, and we talked about where we’d be in ten years? Wow, we were so young and innocent back then…”

 

“Well … not _totally_ innocent. I see to remember a certain blonde and I doing some sinful things in the janitor's closet, the Blue and Gold room, your frilly bedroom, the Whyte Wy-” Betty smacked his shoulder.

 

“Oh shut up Juggie,” She laughed. “I meant that we were _teenagers_ , we had no idea where our lives were headed.” Betty turned and snuggled closer to her boyfriend, inhaling his scent of old books and coffee. “I had no idea I would end up working as a children’s book editor, and you certainly didn’t predict you’d be taking photographs of celebrities for magazines. We obviously didn’t know how expensive rent was in the city because trust me, if I knew that a studio could cost up to fifty grand a month, I would never–”

 

“Betts,” Jughead chuckled, his palms becoming a bit more clammy. “I get what you mean,”

 

“Sorry,” The blonde blushed, her tendency to ramble became more and more regular as she grew older, especially in telling authors where to fix things in their text. To say that people would get mildly annoyed with her on the regular would be an understatement.

 

“It’s fine babe,” Jughead murmured, kissing her forehead, slowly pulling out the velvet box. “I was just going to say how ten years ago, I sat in this very spot and decided that I was officially the luckiest man to have ever walked the earth because I’ve never known such beauty as Betty Cooper,” He starts, his voice cracking a bit. Betty looks up at him through her thick lashes, just as she had ten years ago, her pupils blown with a mixture of love and lust.

 

“Oh Juggie,” She whispered.

 

“It was also ten years ago that I decided I shouldn’t let that beauty go, ever. That I need to spend the rest of my life with her, if she’ll have me,” Tears welled in Betty’s eyes as Jughead opened the small box, revealing a simple diamond engagement ring. “So, Elizabeth Allison Cooper, will you–”

 

Betty threw her arms around her boyfriend and kissed him passionately, almost causing Jughead to drop the ring.

 

“So is that a yes or…” He laughed as the pulled away, earning another playful smack.

 

“Of course I’ll marry you, you big sap!” He slid the ring onto her left hand with delicacy, having spent the past ten years imagining this moment, it almost seemed like a dream. Betty held her hand up to the sun to examine the ring further, and Jughead felt a tad bit of embarrassment at the size of it.

 

“Sorry the diamonds kinda small, I figured you don’t like flashy things and we could use the extra money for the wedding so…” Jug rubbed the back of his neck and Betty looked up at him with so much love it was almost overwhelming.

“It’s perfect Jughead, you picked out the perfect ring for me and I love it,” She pulled him in for another long kiss.

 

“Actually, Veronica tried to help me, but she kept picking ones a couple thousand dollars out of my price range,” He smirked, and Betty laughed, picturing her best friend and _fiancé_ arguing over engagement rings of all things.

 

The newly engaged couple lay in silence until the sun began to set, Betty admiring her ring and pulling Jughead into a kiss every few minutes. When the sky turned a dusty shade of orange, they packed up the blanket and got back into the car, driving off towards their future, together.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm higkey considering making a follow-up of their wedding or having kids or other domestic type situations, so let me know if that's something you'd like!


End file.
